“Yes, Jess,” he said as he stepped back, moving her legs off him.
“Griff, what’s wrong?” she asked as she knew something had to have gone through his head that had him stopping. Then she knew he’d been thinking about the marriage thing and it’d shut him down.
All she wanted to do was end the charade. Tell him she knew about the bet and how they’d gotten back at them for it. But Griff seemed set on trying to make her whack off a bull as he dragged her along with him to the first pen. “Come on. You have to do this. If you want me, then you’ll have to do this.”
Stopping short, Jess made a drastic decision. She was going to tell him the truth. Tired of keeping so much bottled up was taking its toll on her. “We need to talk.”
Griff turned around and eyed her warily. Somewhere, deep inside, he knew she was about to confess, and he knew he should too. “About what, Jess?”
A door on the side of the barn flew open and in came a tall man with a gun aimed right at them. “What the hell are you two doing in here?”
“Who the hell are you?” Griffin asked as he quickly moved Jess behind him.
“Never mind that,” the stranger shouted. “Get on the ground and put your hands behind your heads.”
Griffin had no idea who the man was or what the hell he thought he was doing. Jess looked at him with wide eyes as she said, “You don’t live here, do you?”
Chapter 31
Bouncing in the pickup truck Phoenix had rented at the airport, Cait looked out the window at the desolate area he was taking her to. “So, this is the land that’s made you so rich?”
“It sure is,” he said with pride in his deep voice.
“It’s not much to look at,” Cait commented on the drab gray trees that were short with thin leaves on them. The tan color of the dirt made everything blend in. Nothing stood out. “Does it get any better?”
“Hell, yes, it does,” Phoenix said as he went around a corner and the pavement ended, white caliche rocks began, and the ride became even bumpier.
“Are we going off-roading now, Phoenix?” Cait asked as she grabbed the bar above the passenger side window. “Now I know why this was installed.”
Phoenix laughed as he shook his head. “This isn’t off-roading, Caity-cat. This is one of the many roads the oil company put down when they were drilling the wells.”
“This is not a road!” she said as she hung on for dear life to the bar and pressed her feet against the floorboard in a vain attempt to steady herself. “This is worse than driving on the dirt, Phoenix!”
Rounding another curve, he pulled to a stop in front of a giant see-saw like structure. “This is the Nelson number one. The first oil well they drilled on this property. It makes roughly 40 barrels of oil a day for me.”
“I can see why you like the land for that purpose, but for any other purpose, it’s more than fairly undesirable. You sure you want to make a home for yourself here?” she asked him as she looked around, desperately trying to find anything of beauty at all to make her understand what he saw in the place.
Phoenix was happy with her dislike of the scenery. He was set on showing her that if she was looking for a husband, he wasn’t going to be the man for her. But if she wanted to play, he was game for that.
“This is where it all started, Cait. I want to make a home for myself and a family right here, where it all began,” he said, then pulled away from the pump and headed down the bumpy road again.
Cait clung to the bar as she thought about why in the world he or anyone else would want to live in the middle of nowhere with only a bunch of machinery as their neighbors. And when he pulled up at a small, white house with the paint peeling, exposing old, gray boards underneath, she was thoroughly confused by the man. “What’s this?” she asked.
“This is the house the property came with. I stayed here a lot when I was first given the property. I want to make this place into a home. Come on, Cait. Let me show you around,” he said, then jumped out of the truck.
When he opened the door for her, the most awful smell hit her like a brick. “Oh, Lord! What’s that smell?”
“That’s the smell of money, Cait,” he told her as he helped her out of the tall truck.
“It’s more like rotten eggs and tar.” Cait looked around to try to find out exactly where the odor was coming from and couldn’t pinpoint it at all. “It seems to be coming from everywhere.”
“Well, that’s because it is,” he told her as he led her into the ramshackle dump of a house. “That’s the gases that come up with the oil. He pointed to a row of tan painted huge tanks that were not too far away. “That’s where the oil is pumped to. So, that’s why the smell is so strong here. You get used to it. You’ll see. Now, let’s go inside so I can show you the house and get your take on it.”
Cait pinched her nose shut as she went with him. She was pretty positive she’d never get used to that stench. And when he opened the door, she was met by three scurrying mice and let out a scream. “Rats!”
“Nah, those aren’t rats,” he said as he pulled her inside. “Rats are a lot bigger. Those are just mice. Once we move in here, they’ll move out.”
“We?” she asked as she looked at him, her fingers still holding her nose closed, making her sound stuffed up. “Phoenix, what the hell are you talking about?”
“You and me, of course. That’d be the next logical step, wouldn’t it? Moving in together?” he asked her as he watched her eyes get big.
“We’re not anywhere near that place yet,” she said.
And he had to wonder, if they weren’t near that place, then why was she talking to her sisters about marrying him?
Taking her into his arms, he pulled her close and kissed her on the forehead. “Maybe soon you’ll be closer to wanting us to be a thing. A real thing. A lasting thing.”
“Not here,” she said as she looked at the empty house. “And to be perfectly honest, this place needs to be torn down. Bulldoze it. And don’t start over anywhere near here. I’m pretty sure breathing in this air is not good for us.”
Phoenix was pretty sure it wasn’t either, but he said, “You really can’t see yourself living here, Caity-cat?” He rocked her back and forth as he looked into her eyes.
“I really can’t. We should go see that beach house you have.” She let her nose go and gave him a smile and then a kiss to see if she could get him to take her away from the horrible place. “I know I’ll feel a lot better with the salty air blowing around, instead of this.”
“You don’t even wanna spend one night here?” he asked. “Just to see what it’d be like?”
She shook her head. “No, and you shouldn’t either. This isn’t a place to build a home and raise a family. This place looks like rattlesnake heaven. A terrible place to raise kids.”
Cait wasn’t wrong about the snakes. Phoenix knew that each year the oil field workers killed five to ten of the poisonous creatures on his place, alone. Her instincts were right.
Everything about the girl was right, except the conniving part of her, Phoenix thought. “I tell you what. You and I are going to the little town that’s just a piece down the road and have some dinner, then maybe get a room in town for the night. I really do want you to get to know this place. This is where my future will be. Maybe I could buy a house in town. Maybe that’d be more your style.”
“You keep talking like I’m about to move down here with you. I’m not,” she told him. “I’m still in school, and that’s my top priority.”
With her words, he let her out of his hold. “About school. I suppose you’ve gotten into a real financial pickle with all those student loans. I’d like to help you out with them.” Phoenix eyed her to see if she’d accept his help and let the marriage thing go.
He wanted them to stop the playing against the other thing they’d been secretly doing. Phoenix wanted things to be real between them. A thing they were far from at that moment.
Cait was wondering what he was up to. She pl
aced her hand on her hip and shifted her weight. “I don’t need your help, thank you very much.”
Moving around her like a cat stalking its prey, he said, “I think you do. I think you need my help very much. You have to admit, it’d help your father out tremendously if I settled your debts. Don’t you want that for him?”
She gulped as Phoenix circled her then stopped in front of her, taking her by the chin, making her look into his eyes. Cait was on the verge of telling him the truth. The only thing keeping her from blurting it all out was the fact that he was hanging on to his secret too.
“My father wouldn’t want me accepting that kind of money from a man.”
“But a husband, he surely would,” Phoenix said then smiled.
“What are you getting at, Phoenix?” she asked him, as she knew he didn’t want to marry her. And she didn’t want to marry him. It was all too soon, and there were lies in their way.
A loud popping sound made them both jump and Phoenix ran outside to see what was making the noise. Cait followed, and the two found one of the tanks had a small lid that was blowing up as each pop sounded. “I need to make a phone call,” Phoenix said. “We should get out of here.”
Hurrying to the truck, Cait climbed in on her own so they could get out of there faster. Phoenix got in the driver’s side and pulled out his phone as he pulled away from the area. “Why do you think it’s doing that, Phoenix?”
“I have no idea.” He gave her a look that told her more than he’d been telling her.
“You’ve never stayed out here, have you?” she asked him with a frown. “You’re trying to make me think this is what you want, but it’s not, is it?”
“Um, uh.” He had no idea what to tell her. He drove away from the smell and the noise that he knew damn good and well he never wanted to live around. And suddenly he felt he had to open up and be honest with the young woman. “Let me make this call to the oil company and then you and I are going to have a long talk.”
Cait nodded and leaned her head against the headrest. It seemed they were finally going to get to the truth. Or so she hoped.
Chapter 32
After a long day of visiting with Ethan’s fake family, although Kel was unaware of that fact, she was tired and ready for bed. Ethan walked her down a long hallway where many pictures lined the walls. “And who’s this?” she asked about a lovely young woman in a black and white photo, framed in gold.
“Um,” he mumbled, as he had no idea who any of the people were in any of the photos. The fact was, he was growing tired of the charade. Kel had been the epitome of class as she handled the shenanigans the acting troupe put her through. “Not sure about that one, love.”
Kel stopped and turned to face him. “How’s that, Ethan? I have to tell you that I feel like something’s not quite right here.”
He gulped and felt a weight on his back the likes of which he’d never known before. Taking her hand, he led her into one of the bedrooms. “I think I can finally be honest with you, Kel, seeing as I have you too far away for you to grow furious enough with me that you’d run out and hide away from me.”
She sat on the bed, watching him as he began to pace with a slightly nervous expression on his handsome face. “Be honest. I never run from honesty, Ethan.”
He laughed with an oddly loud and abrupt sound. “Oh, I think you’ll be pretty mad at me, my love.”
“I’ll hold my temper.” Kel got up and put her arms around him. “You can be honest with me.”
He stroked her soft cheek and looked into her eyes. “I think I can, but I’m still afraid you’ll end this.”
“And why would I end something this nice?” she asked him, then leaned her head to rest on his broad chest. “Just tell me. You really can tell me anything.”
Taking her hands, he held her away from him. “Take a seat.”
She did as he’d said to and sat on the edge of the bed. “Okay, spill it, Ethan.”
“My friends and I overheard you and your sisters talking about something that has us all doing some kind of crazy things to you girls.” He began to pace again, putting his hands behind his back as he weighed what he wanted to say.
Kel held her temper, but the fact was that she was getting irate that this was the thing he wanted to be honest about and not the bet he and his friends had. “You and your friends are doing crazy things to me and my sisters, Ethan. Please go on. And what did you hear us talking about?”
Ethan stopped and leveled his eyes on Kel. She looked so small and innocent as she sat on the bed, waiting for his explanation. “Marriage, Kel. Marriage and how you three plan to get us all to marry you and pay your damn bills.” His face was turning red as he grew angry.
Kel’s face began to turn red too. “Anything else you’d like to be honest about, Ethan?”
“These people aren’t my family. I hired them to play the role. I wanted you to think I came from looneys and stop trying to get me to marry you. I actually come from good stock. No Americans are in the mix at all. And no mental illness, either. I’m not proud of what I did. And I wanted you to know that. I want us to be honest with one another. Would you like to confess now?”
Heat filled her as she stood up. “Me? You’re not nearly finished with your confession!”
Ethan grabbed her wrists, as he feared she might try to hit him. “Look, I told you about the fake family and why I did it. There’s no more. I’d like for you to admit that you planned on tricking me into marrying you.”
“I admit it,” Kel spat at him. “Before I ask for your forgiveness for such a thing though, I want more of that honesty you spoke about. I want to know it all, Ethan Southern. Every last bit of it!”
“Well, Griffin is going to make Jess think she’ll have to jack off bulls to be his wife. Phoenix is making Cait think that she’ll have to live in the middle of a stinking oilfield if she wants him to marry her. We all came up with ideas that make us seem less attractive as husbands.” He sat her back down. “There you have it.”
“I’m going to let you have it if you don’t come clean, Ethan. You have mere seconds. I’m about to count to three, and if I get to the last number and the whole truth hasn’t begun to pour from those lips then you will feel my wrath. You and your friends!” The look on her face made him think she knew about the bet.
But how could she? Unless one of his friends had told one of her sisters. That would be the only way, in his opinion. “Who told who what, love?”
“One!” Kel shouted at him.
“Damn it! Kel, you have to tell me what you know,” he shouted back at her.
“Two!” she said through clenched teeth. Her eyes were growing shimmery with what he was sure were angry tears. And when a woman cried those kinds of tears, anything could happen. Thr—”
“Stop!” he shouted as he held up his hands in surrender. “Stop counting. We had a bet.”
Kel couldn’t stop the tears as they crept out of her eyes. He’d finally been honest. “About?”
“About getting laid. Who’d get laid first.” Ethan got on his knees in front of her and took her hands in his, pulling them up to his cheeks where he rubbed them to his face. “We picked the women for each other. You were chosen for me. Kel, I swear it to ya, I’ve never met a woman more perfect for me.”
She let out a sigh of relief. “Ethan, finally. We’ve known since the first night. That’s why we led you all on then left you. The bartender is our cousin; he overheard you and told us. Damn, that feels awesome to get off my chest. The marriage thing we were talking about was to get even with you all.”
Ethan nodded. “That sounds more reasonable than thinking you three strong women wanted what you were talking about.”
“I’m going to call my sisters and tell them to come clean. I can’t imagine the torture their men are putting them through. And you call your friends and let them know the bet’s off.” Kel pulled her hands away from Ethan, but he came along with them and kissed her with a passion he’d never felt befo
re.
The woman was his equal in all ways. And the bet was behind them. The truth had been exposed, and he was about to make sure she knew how he really felt about her.
Chapter 33
Jess cringed as the tall man with the gun walked over to them as they laid on their stomachs on the floor, hands behind their head. He was still pointing it at Griffin, who said, “I’m Griffin Houser. And who the hell are you?”
“Oh, shit!” the man whispered. “Sorry, sir. Here, let me help you up!”
“Don’t bother,” Griffin growled as he got up and helped Jess up too. “And you are?”
“The new head of security. Donald Noland.” He extended his hand for a shake, and Griffin just looked at it.
“I don’ think so,” Griff said as he glared at the man. “My fucking pictures are all over the house. Don’t try to tell me you had no idea who I was.”
“No, sir, really,” Donald said. “This is my first night to work. I was hired on to secure the outside, the animals. The inside is still your security guy you’ve had for years. Mr. Stout is the one who hired me to take care of the outside. I haven’t even met your family yet.”
Griffin’s cell phone rang, and he took it out of his pocket. “It’s Ethan.”
When Jess’ cell rang too, she pulled it out of her pocket and saw it was Kel. “I hope nothing’s happened!”
Griff gave Donald a nod. “Go on about your business. We’re going inside, anyway.” He led Jess out of the barn and back toward the house as he answered his phone. “Griffin here, Ethan.”
“The jig is up. Time to tell Jess about the bet,” Ethan told him.
Jess was listening to Kel as she told her, “I got it out of Ethan about the bet. It’s off. Tell Griff about the fake marriage scam.”
“Wow,” Jess said as she followed Griff into the house. “You’re remarkable.”
“I know. See you on Monday when we come back. We’re going to stay the weekend in this mansion he rented and send his fake family home. You get to have some real fun now that the lying is over. Love you, sis.”
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